im 15 years old and last night when i went to bed i was just drifting 2 sleep when i felt pressure on my chest and thought, i couldn't move or speak. it felt like a spirit or "ghost" was sitting on my chest and strangling me. i need help please.

can't sleep on my back, otherwise, within first 10-15 minutes of falling asleep, i get intense pressure in chest - feels like an elephant sitting on my strenum. I'm fine once I shake myself awake. Nobody has an answer?

You might want to research "sleep paralysis". You'll turn up information from bizarre websites and information from medical websites. While the bizarre websites (psychic phenomena and such) will describe the symptoms pretty well, stick to the medical websites to learn about causes and solutions.

I believe what we are experiencing is a haunting. It started when I was about 14, my family and I moved into a new house.. Anyway any time I would fall. Asleep on my. Back or stomach I would feel as if I had just fallen as leep. But was contious, I could feel pressure on my chest...then a feeling of 'I don't feel safe' then I'd feel like 'someone who shouldn't be here is here' I'd try to move or scream, I'd try to do anything but feel afraid. Because of my faith, I am vaishnava which is a hindu religion.. Basically krishna was a man who wwas born 5000 years ago and was basically god, just like jesus, budah, etc... Basically in my religion they are all the same...anyway because of my faith I knew this had to be a ghost... So I'd go to bed, get haunted and the meditate on the hare krishna mantra : hare krsna, hare krsna, krsna, krsna , hare hare* which basically. Is just a spiritual song...anywho because this hautning *sleep paralysit* went on for years I'd go to sleepprepared, as soon as I felt the 'I'm a sleep but awake' feeling I'd start to chantthe mantra, the firs couple of t imes as soon as I started chanting the spirit would make me ffeel instantly scared, this thing was pissed. I'd wake up and do it the next time..anyway I'd do this night after night then one night while sleeping the haunting began but I didn't have time to focus or anything this figure poped up in my face and growwled at me very loud, I ended up screaming for the first time in its face 'hare krishna hare krishna krishna krisna hare hare' I was 19, it had been torturing me since I was 14 but its stopped, I'm 25 now and have never had sleep paralysist been haunted again. Believe me or not but I say try it,stand up to this spirit, chant. The mantra even if u don't believe in it and it will stop. Google vaishnava **expect typos*

This is definitely a form of sleep paralysis, I get the exact same thing, expecially when I sleep on my back, it feels like a big cat is sitting on you, or you're being pushed into your mattress by some inexplicable force. It is almost always accompanied by the feeling that someone is there, some presence, like a ghost. It can get much worse, you can end up with hallucinations, hearing strange things, feeling like you are being moved around by strange people, some ways to counteract htis are...
-switch positions, sleeping on your back and stomach tend to bring about stranger experiences
-make sure you go to sleep relaxed. This will reduce the intensity and terror that can be brought on by these sleep experiences
-Make sure your room is a comfortable temperature. When I am too hot, I get the most vivid frightening experiences. Try sleeping with a sheet, or with a window open to cool yourself down.

Good luck, be prepared for this to get worse, my sleep paralysis started like that when I was about 17 and has just escalated for years. Make sure you understand what is going on so you are not so alarmed and confused when strange things start happening. Not to scare you or anything... it's just good to be prepared, just in case.

This sleep paralysis ... in my religion is call getting sat on from a ghost or spirit...
It started back in 2001 for me and I got scared form some time but you'll start to know when the entity is coming. Some of me and my cousins would see the entity right be before it begins. You wake up and then Bam you get sat on.
The elders say that the entity is from the your past life the they are there because there was a promise made longer ago between the both of you.
It is said that if you're a female getting squashed then it is a man that is on you, if male then the opposite. I myself saw the lady in white and an other girl the looked like she was Laura from Little house on the prairie.
This morning I experienced 4 occurrences. And yes, I tried sleeping in all position and each one were the same feeling.
-some say you can sleep with a knife under your pillow it actually helped when I moved out from my parents house. I came back with it and I got four of'em.
There are many other ways but try that or a brand new broom beside your bed. I don't know what's behind that one but that was just what I was told.

My spoke to my brother-in-law and he told me to either speak to the Lord ask for help. Or unlike me I don't go to Church so tonight I was hold my head high and face my demons and get sqooshed by'em. They say that since you're getting those things happening to - you may be sensitive to your humanly 6th's since... Which I can believe what I've seen in my life time...
With giving up and not trying to fight it off--embrace it you might even be able to float from your body and maybe see other things that are untold. But maybe that will release me from the my cursed life of shame and misfortune.

Enclosed, I hope that you would believe what you want to believe but today is going to be interesting for me.

My name is Dennis. I am Hmong(Asain-some what of a Chinese descent). In my religion and the ones that still believe in the old ways, we believe the is Heaven and Earth, God and Satan, Angels and demons, the rich and the poor, the smart and the stupid, and people that just won't try to open the eyes and there minds.
But I believe each of us can fight mentally strong when we are afraid and that we have an enormous telepathic capability that is locked deep in side and you just have to unlock it and become more .... don't be afraid because I am scared as well wit goose bumps writing this to the public sitting in my room alone waiting to get sleepy.
I wish you luck, fortune, wisdom, inner power for us empower ourselves and this prayer. To the ones that are reading this, because I know that if you're heeding my words you are believing as well. Don't write back and talk down about my words but be prepared for things that you will never believe in and maybe one day you don't hear someone laughing at you in the dark.

This may help.. the spiritual heart located in center of chest is the center of peace, calmness and joy also the direct connection to the True Source of Love and Light. Connecting to your spiritual heart, naturally provides you with protection as that is where the light shines and most dark spirits are afraid of the light. So how to connect, just touch your heart, relax and smile to your heart, and you really need to SMILE,showing all your teeth, this helps to connect you better, try not to visualize or concentrate, just allow yourself to feel, and follow a gentle feeling, before you know it, you will be asleep, and this peace and joy is the greatest protection, natural gift we have... here is more info, this Open Heart Meditation also helps me, and this way i fall asleep in warm cozy heart feeling....

Dennis,
Finally someone doesn't feed me medical crap that I KNOW, thats not my case.....
I am scared....sometimes its all black and it grabs me, today I didn't see it...but it sat on me and I fought...I fought really hard....I saged my parents house today...as for some reason only when I live here, these experiences happen..... I also talk to God and my Spirit Guides for help. I am going to try what you said...I am going to ask it before I fall asleep, to try to tell me why this is happening, and also ask for forgivness for anything I have done or not done.....If you ever read this...well I will let you know what happens next I guess...I know I will fall asleep eventually.....*sigh*...

I started feeling that when I was 14 years old. Today it happened to me like 3 times. This time I heard a lot of people talking, but couldn't pick up on anyone's conversation because there were so many voices. I felt someone coming into my room, to the door and then leaving very fast.
The other day I dreamed going into my bathroom and staring myself at the mirror and see ayoung boy (like 13); he was chuby, light color and had red hair , and he was staring at me. I was not afraid, but I do recall telling him to go away and to leave me alone. He was like attached to my body because he was so close to me.
In the past I have felt pressure in my chest, someone sitting on my bed, being pulled out of my bed and was I got slapped and felt the pressure on my face.

i understand the symptoms of sleep paralysis.. i have experienced this before.. is it normal to feel your surroundings beings moved.i.e., someone walking on your bed or tugging at your pillow, while the rest of your body is perfectly still??

Hi, I do experience the same strange things described above, in some instances I feel that my body is completely moving and Think that i am really moving when i realise after a while that i am still sleeping . It is always accompanied by a strange feeling and usually the situations i live are weird , like moving and talking to people with a heaviness in my tongue and my body seeing my litlle sister when she was 6, finding that my room is not the same as it is etc.
Also , sometimes i can feel someone kissing me , cuddling me , or trying to make me involved in sexual things .
The solution , is to avoid sleeping during the day ,or when you are being under anxiety , keep on having faith in god and pray so that he prvents us from being exposed to bad spirits .

the first time it felt like two people were holding the covers down over me, i woke up and the cover wasn't even on me. the second time it felf like someone lay straight across me sideways. i tried my best to yell as loud as i could but because i was asleep being woke up i was only able to make noises, i made loud noises as best i could then eventually shouted get off me at the top of my voice. i pulled my clothes on as quick as i could and ran to my friends house who luckily only lives a few minutes away.

there is a lot of evidence (so it would seem) that it's something to do with a non-rem state of dreaming you enter after only being asleep for a while. i had only just fallen to sleep after using the bathroom at 4am.

i do understand how we can have nightmares and SEE things but i don't know how we're able to feel things.

the first night this happened was after visiting a graveyard near where i live. i have been on ghost hunts in the past and have 'spoken' to ghosts etc, in the graveyard there was a woman called margaret who was trying to speak to me. i had to find her gravestone in the cemetery because there was something so strong calling me. i have heard stories before about spirits attaching themselves to people and just hope this isn't the case here for me.

i am however, a very strong person and - within reason - think i'll be able to deal with it.

one thing i would say is that without a shadow of a doubt and beyond anything i have ever been afraid of, this is the single most scary thing that has ever happened to me. literally petrifying. so much so i thought i was going to faint through having a panic attack! and i'm simply not the kind of person that's easily scared.

can't sleep on my back, otherwise, within first 10-15 minutes of falling asleep, i get intense pressure in chest - feels like an elephant sitting on my strenum. I'm fine once I shake myself awake. Nobody has an answer?

Its a whole process you are suppose to be a sleep when your body is doing its thing i went through the whole thing till my alarm clock turned on and it stooped pretending to be sleep its really good your arms move by them self and lot of fun stuff. don't be scared

just read your stories, and mine is quite different.. im a 24yr old female, it first happened when i start renting a really old townhouse from the 1800's, i fell asleep on the couch one night, i live alone, i suddenly woke up to feeling pressure on my chest but no sensation in my hands or legs i tried but they just wouldnt move, my eyes were open i could see everything in my sitting room perfectly, there were no figures of spirits or anything like that and then i felt the pressure rise from my body and it was gone i was completely awake when this happened.. i end up moving from that house not long after, as there was things happening in the house couldnt explain, so i thought it best to leave.. about 2, 3 months after moving back to my parents, i was asleep this night lying on my stomach, wen i felt something move at the end of my bed, it jolted me awake, then from no were there was a strong pressure starting to form from my feet workin its way up to the back of my head.. the only way i can explain it was as if someone got into bed wit me but completely lied on top of me, but i was totally paralysed, couldnt move, couldnt scream my eyes were open, i could see my room perfect and finally after what felt like an hour, but in reality 2 mins i finally let out a scream and just b4 my parents got to my room this feeling completely vanished... the 3rd time it happened was about 5 days later, similar thing i was lyin in bed, but lying on my left hand side curled up in my blankets, wen i was jolted awake again by the feeling of someone cuddling up to me, i again felt paralysed but this time it was different i felt paralysed of fear i think my body was able to move.. i could hear tru my pillow movements from behind my head.. i finally got the courage to scream and i could scream no problem, and then my parents came in and rescued me ha. well ive had this now happen atleast 15 times in the past 2 years each one slightly different to the others... i have no problems sleeping or healthwise.. ive looked up sleep piralysis and it sounds very similar to what ive experienced only i know im not dreaming, it happens no matter what way i lye when i sleep i defo dont see demons or hallucinate, ive been totally awake everytime.. i have also looked up ghostly experiences and im totally at a 50-50 as to which one it is... im wondering has anyone any idea as to stop this from happening as its honestly the scariest feelings of pure terror i have ever felt..

You should be very careful because sometimes theyre special demons know as incubus. which will sexually arouse you and make you believe that theyre good. its hard to resist their temptation but you need to have faith and they will paralyze you and try to make you excited and finish you off by stealing your soul and trust in god. be strong my friends, I think what seems to help is to pray to god and theyll go away.

I went looking for people who have experienced the same things i have for years and it is real. Don't let anyone tell you it's not and it is evil. It has seem to me that I have been in an all out battle and I usually tired afterwards. I have been up since 2:30am it is now 7:30 When the wake me I make the best of the time I get up and pray and read scriptures and write. But, most of all I get up and remind satan of God's promises and plead the blood of Jesus because demons can't hang around where the blood of Christ is.

Hello. I'm fifteen and i've only expirenced this 5 times. It all makes sense... And I hate it. I read somewhere that this can be prevented.It said that this happens due to irregular sleeping patterens and sleep deprivation.

My expirence- i've had this happen 5 times. Twice at my dad's house and 3 times at my mom's house. I thought I was insane. I thought it was a ghost that followed me from house to house... I know right?? I do sound insane. It's AWFULL. With me I can harldy move. I can twitch my fingers and see/ hear the TV. My entire body is numb. The harder I try to move the harder it is to fight. If I let it overtake me I feel that I will fall into nothingness. I have not been able to open my eyes while this happenes. I could take quick glances but nothing more then few seconds at a time. Although at this i'm somewhat glad, from now on i'll be afraid of what i'll see.I have yet to try to speak.

What i've learned- I learned that this may happen because your body is jolted asleep or awake. And your brain still thinks that your asleep. When you sleep you brain makes your body paralyzed to reduce injury while sleeping. It's commen and some people expirence/ feel a malevolent pressance. It is said that you can see them/ it or feel them in the room. You can see the door open and or feel a pressure like a demon or witch on your chest holding you down. You are usally wide awake. Your eyes are open and your alert, but unable to move or speak whitch really doesn't help... Sometimes you feel something holding your thoat so your unable to speak. You may also hear foot steps which was most commenly found to be socks or stocking on wood floor,shuffling. That say it can pass/ end with movement, the touch of someone (real of course) or loud sounds. I also found out that is can be avoided by sleeping on your side. This most commenly happenes while sleeping on your back, hense the pressure on your chest.

Lol don't worry people you are diffently not alone. I told my friend about my symptons thinking it was just a dream. Later on after having it happen again I researched it and discovered that it was a sleeping dissorder (yay...) Later on I went back to tell him what is was and he said he had the same thing. I replyed with 'well it's great to be us then isn't it?'
I know there are lot of spelling error and grammer mistakes. Well this isn't school. The last time this happened to be was yesterday and so I did all my research only about 15 minutes ago befor signing up on this website to share what I learned with you curious people. I hope this helped and I know from now on i'm sleeping on my side untill the day I die.

The last three nights I feel whenever I sleep on my side that sometime one finger or two hands are pushing my back. What makes it scary is that I almost feel the pain of the pressure on my back when I wake up? Have been under a lot of stress lately but these dreams are very vivid and I always find it difficult going back to sleep.

The last three nights I feel whenever I sleep on my side that sometime one finger or two hands are pushing my back. What makes it scary is that I almost feel the pain of the pressure on my back when I wake up? Have been under a lot of stress lately but these dreams are very vivid and I always find it difficult going back to sleep.

I am so glad I am not alone! Early this morning, around 7:00 AM, I had the exact same experience. I've been working for Walt Disney World for about 3 months and they are giving me a lot of hours. Right before this incident happened, I had worked for the past 11 days for approximately 8-11 hours each day! I hadn't been eating properly (only about one meal a day; normally consisting of a cup of french fries) and my sleeping patterns revolved around my work hours which varied from early morning to closing at night.

Needless to say, I was definitely looking forward to sleeping in today only to wake up around 5:30 AM. When I did, I just looked around the room, noticed that the light was on as well as the TV. So, I went back to sleep. Before I knew it, I felt something trying to dig its hand between the mattress and box spring. Then it felt like whatever it was was lifting the mattress up and down, possibly like it was trying to wake me. Then, it felt like the whole mattress was floating above the box spring. At that point, I tried to move and turn around to see what it was. But, I couldn't open my eyes or move my arms (my arms were up by my head and I was sleeping on my stomach). That's when I started to feel the pressure. It felt like my whole body (minus my legs; I don't remember paying any attention to my legs during this ordeal) was being pressed into the bed -- deeper and deeper.

I tried to call out for help but I couldn't open my mouth. The only sound I could muster was a "normal sound-level" MM-MM-MM. I tried calling out for my mother but once again MM-MM-MM. So, I tried to move my arms again and call out for my mother MM-MM-MM. After all that failed, I was in sheer panic. So I did the only other option I believed I had -- I thought about Jesus. Honestly, after the split second of just thinking the word Jesus I was able to call out MOM! and I jumped out of my bed and ran to my mother's room.

I was so freaked out and I still have no idea what really happened this morning. I just layed in the bed with my mom until she had to go to work. I still have yet to go back to sleep in my room.

I really hope no one thinks that I'm trying to make a shameless plug for anyone to call on God or Jesus. It's just what worked for me after everything else failed. I didn't know what else to do. I really hope, with every fiber in my being, that it wasn't an entity or spirit that haunted me this morning. I'm going to look more into sleep paralysis right now. I just wanted to share my story so if anyone else out there has the same experience they won't feel alone like I did for the better part of today.

Thanks so much for all your input. It made me feel more at ease and as if I'm really not alone and I'm not completely crazy.

Hi all, this has been happening to me on and off for about 8 or 9 years. And tonight when I realised I was actually afraid to go to bed, I decided I would finally google to see if this even comes up in a search engine. I'm so glad I found this thread!

I've never told anyone about it because I've always felt that I was having a very weird pseudo sexual ghosts hunting me experience. I know you can all relate to my relief to discover that it is infact a scientific sleeping disorder and not some crazy sex starved ghosts hunting me. I can honestly say that my experiences are absolutely terrifying, and they never get easier! There's an album titled Sleeping with Ghosts by a band called Placebo who I happen to like, and when I heard it, I thought that was the perfect name for what was happening to me!

The first time it happened I had the hallucinations, there was a man standing in front of my bed, then I could feel him lying right on top of me. I thought if this was a dream it said more about me than I want to know! This was when I lived with my parents and I was about 18 or so. It happened numerous times there. Then it didn't happen for a long time, until I was visiting a friend abroad. She was renting an old house and I was half awake in the morning. I could hear her downstairs preparing breakfast when I felt something literally fly across the room and smother me.

Funnily enough it nearly always happens when I'm lying face down. Though it has happened a few times that I've been lying in the foetal position, I suppose you call it and I feel someone curl up around me. It's the most terrifying feeling. Sometimes I feel like the bed clothes are moving around me, I can feel theres an indent in the bed beside me if the hallucination is lying there. The pillows move up and down. And I'm trying to get out from under the weight of this usually big heavy man and it just seems hopeless.

When I moved out it didn't happen at all in certain houses. This convinced me that yeah, it has something to do with evil spirits. That some houses have them and some don't.
I was back visiting my parents, and it happened again, but for the first time it wasn't the spirit of a man, it was a small girl. It was still scary but I felt like she didn't want to hurt me. Previous to this I had always just tried to scream for help. The screams always just come out as baby kitten sounds, my sister tells me - she has the misfortune of sharing a room with me at times! But of course i'm screaming with all my might.
With this girl though, I was scared but not too much, so I asked her to just leave me alone, please and kept repeating it, then she seemed to go and I was awake.

I moved into a new apartment about 9 months ago and hadn't experienced it at all here, and didn't think I would. But I've had terrifying, absolutely terrifying experiences over the past month. Maybe 6 times in the past month. Again its a man, he's on top of me, I'm screaming and I can't move. I've recently had shoulder pain in one shoulder which I've been to a massage therapist to try relieve it, then last week, I had this night terror where the spirit, we'll call it for lack of a better word, seemed to try to manipulate my shoulder like a massueuse! I thought oh my god this isn't good, and I just screamed get off me repeatedly until I woke myself up and they went away. Worth noting that when I've screamed myself awake the presence feels like it's lingering in the room for a bit. So I'm awake, it sounds ridiculous, but I keep repeating go away until the energy just seems to disappear.

Last night I woke my sister up in the next room. Woke up in the middle of the night with the feeling that someone was sitting on me around the waist and was pulling me up, off the bed, by the shoulders. I tried to shake myself free but the spirit had a complete hold on me so all I could do was wriggle to no avail and scream. This time I'd gotten so fed up, it's been happening so often. I started screaming Get the F**ck off me, just f**k off, over and over again and when I woke myself up thats what I was screaming and, my poor sister awoke to that!
Honestly, I'm afraid to pray when it happens, just incase. Usually I do, but I won't say my guardian angel prayer becasue I'm afraid its my guardian angel - and even if it is - I don't want to know, it's so terrifying. If thats what it is I'd rather it kept it's distance! Or at least come across a little gentler!

I'm not a weirdo para-normal fanantic. Infact, I've studied Science at Uni. I know I've written the above in terms of spirits and stuff, thats because thats the only way I can relate to the experience. Thats what it feels like, nothing else. It's what I've been convinced it is for years now. But honestly now that I know it is sleep paralysis I'm so relieved. Better to know its a chemical or physical thing in your brainwaves while you sleep than something out of Miltons Paradise Lost! Will it make a difference knowing? I think it might. Will it help it go away? I dunno. Just want to thank you all for sharing your experiences and letting me know I'm not alone.

So now, I'll try to relax and get a good nights sleep without any strange men disturbing me.

Good night all, sleep well

P.S. Thought I should mention that I was recently diagnosed with an under active thyroid and apparently - just saw this now, there seems to be a link between thyroid complications and an increased occurance of night terrors. Might be useful to some of you!

/I have had this same feeling since the age of eleven. It has happened to me over and over again, sometimes all night long. The times it has happened to me must be in the thousands by now. The only difference is I have is that mine is very violent, it feels like they are choking me or trying to rip off my head. and it doesn't happen when I'm sleeping. It happens right before I fall asleep. It feels like my eyes are being forced shut and once they are the torture begins. I have seen faces and lights, heard voices, and every time it feels like it is trying to kill me. I feel like I am crazy. I try not to tell people but when I am jumping out of bed screaming, it is kinda hard to hide. I have went through a couple sleep studies and they found nothing. Please if you know how I can get rid of this HELP ME.

I feel someone trying to kiss me in my sleep(and do other more graphic things with me)sometimes. It won't happen for long periods of time. It seems to come in waves. Although honestly it's always tempting to indulge, the realization of "what the hell is this" encourages me to fight off the sex fiend. I always try quickly to snap myself awake, but it's very hard. It won't stop pawing at me until I'm able to become fully awake.

And I almost think the entity, thing, hallucination is trying to trick me into a false reality. Sometimes I think I'm awake but I notice my room looks different, so I close my eyes again and try to force myself to really wake up. One time the ceiling was changed to wooden boards. And just last night after squirming out of my visitor's grasp and trying to force my eyes open, I awoke to see the bedroom door was wide open, and there was someone in the living room with the tv on. I thought for a minute my boyfriend was home,but I quickly remembered he'd already left for work, so I realized I was only "fake" awake. I almost wanted to venture into the living room and take a look, but I've seen too many scary movies and I don't trust these dream-beings. I forced myself awake to find the door was closed and all was normal.

It's not always sexual either. I have felt like something was trying to roll me over. I felt like my mattress was pulling me in once. As usual I would just try to wake myself up, with much difficulty. Then the moment I would start to fall back into sleep, the pulling sensation would return and I would hear raucous, indiscernable voices in my head.

It only happens when I'm sleeping by myself. I have been under some amount of stress when it's happened, but just as often life was generally peachy during the incident, so I can't really attribute it to anxiety.
It didn't start happening until I was 19 or so. I'm 27 now and it's always frustratingly scary when it, but I just deal with it. When it starts happening I just refuse to fall into the sleep trap of weirdness-I don't really know what else to call it-and just stay awake for a span if I have to.

I would much rather believe it's all in my head as opposed to being a demon or something. I feel like if it was something real and indeed evil it would have physically hurt me by now. Our heads know what these sensations feel like, so I imagine in dreams our heads can recreate them pretty accurately.